Book Review: Pat Ruddy’s “The Perfect Golf Links”

Guest Blog written by Barry Ward, Editor, Posh Golf Travel – a leading guide to luxury golf resorts and destinations

Those golfers aspiring to a deeper knowledge of course architecture should read what will probably become the Golf Book of The Year for 2012.

It’s a visual and intellectual delight that will open the eyes, lift the spirits and bring a new interpretation to what most players regard as golf course management.

Entitled, “The Perfect Golf Links” and written by Pat Ruddy, Ireland’s foremost golf writer and course architect, it provides a technical insight into his design masterpiece that is the links of The European Club at Brittas Bay, near Dublin.

This is a unique book that will become a collector’s item: large-format, hard-cover and brimming with sumptuous full-page photography complemented by Ruddy’s equally enticing writing.

Its 144 pages cover a discursive journey, from the first tee to the 18th green, during which the author muses on golf course architecture generally while explaining some of the design concepts he has installed at The European and revealing a few of the secrets to playing this majestic links.

Not the least of the disclosures is that Ruddy has rejected an offer of 40 million Euros for the links he self-financed and built from scratch after discovering the site 25 years ago.

It’s his legacy, he says, to leave for his family who maintain the links and run the club. Aside from which, he hasn’t finished it yet. He’s still tinkering with the design that most knowledgeable golfers would regard as perfect.

Of the project beginnings and his philosophy, Ruddy muses: “I didn’t want to borrow much and I didn’t want to take partners. So I decided to proceed in the old fashioned way, of growing things and improving things over a period of years. The acorn to oak tree principle, if you will, spreading the investment and allowing income to help with onward improvements.”

So how good is it?

Suffice to say that five years after completion it was ranked among Ireland’s top ten courses (it’s now number four) and among the top 100 courses of the world in the rankings of  Golf  (USA) Magazine.  More, in Golf Magazine’s 500 Greatest Golf Holes Pat Ruddy’s creation has three entries, one of them, the par four 7th, being voted one of the world’s 100 best holes.

Which prompted this gem: “If people thought we were that good we had better do our best to honour their beliefs. The pursuit of excellence continues….” Hence his tinkering, his search for perfection…

A consummate gentleman and a golf architect extraordinary, Pat Ruddy is also a great Irishman.  The preface to his book includes the line: “Come with me for a stroll around my links and a wee chat.”

You should take up his offer, pronto. You won’t believe what you’ll see or hear and your golfing dreams will be realised.

 *You may order a copy of The Perfect Golf Links via Mastercard or Visa by fax to 353-404-47449; or by telephone on 353-404-47415. The cost is 30 Euros per copy plus  7.50 Euros p&p.

Further information, on tee time reservations and rates, is available via info@theeuropeanclub.com.